When a team or player starts operating on the presumption of
excellence rather than focusing on the principles that produce it,
bad things happen. For Western New England College, a team that
made three consecutive appearances in the national quarterfinals,
false promise truncated the 2010 campaign.

"We thought we reached a point where we arrived," admitted John
Klepacki, WNEC's 10th-year head coach. "We didn't do the
fundamental or core things that helped us become a competitive
program."

The Golden Bears posted a respectable 12-6 record, including games
against three of the four national semifinalists, but the problems
that had been dogging WNEC all season surfaced in the Commonwealth
Coast Conference semifinals. Sixth-seeded New England College
rallied to stun the second-seeded Bears with .03 ticks left on the
clock.

"We underestimated how we needed to finish a game," said Klepacki
of the NEC loss. "We were up at halftime and we thought we'd pull
away. They kept chipping away and we made a lot of individual
mistakes that were not team plays, and that had us walking off the
field realizing it wasn't talent, it was teamwork. That's something
we talked about the very next day. We need to be a better team for
each other."

As the WNEC staff prepared for this fall, the solution was
simple.

"We gutted everything," said Klepacki.

Part of the restructuring was revamping how the team competed with
each other. A large issue facing last year's team was the
individual competition for playing time detracted from the team
focus. With just two seniors on the team, there were plenty of
spots available and the drive to grab those spots turned into a
grind that eventually led to the derailment against NEC.

With a 20-man freshmen class joining the program, there will again
be players fighting for spots, but there will be a different
approach.

"What we need to do to make sure that we have an enjoyment about
going to practice and realizing that there is fun competition,"
said Klepacki. "There was basically too much stress on our group to
succeed at a certain level. We forgot that it was just fun to come
out to play; just coming out to practice, playing hard and getting
after it."

If the plan works, the Golden Bears will be a tough opponent, not
just within the Commonwealth Coast, but on the national scene.
Klepacki is returning key players who were injured in 2010 –
notably Joe O'Keefe – along with a gritty defense and an
accomplished goalie. WNEC has already seen dividends from the new
approach with a solid showing at the Catamount Classic, where they
matched up well with three Division I programs.

WNEC isn't getting ahead of itself, however. While the goals set
by the team are quite lofty, the expectations are being kept
simple.

"We're going back to having some fun and playing ball," said
Klepacki. "I think we're going to enjoy our season."

FALL BALL BLITZ

Team: Western New England College2010 Record: 12-6 (9-1 Commonwealth Coast)2010 In Review: Three of the Golden Bears six
losses came against teams that advanced to the NCAA semis, but a
regular season conference loss to Endicott and a stunning setback
in the Commonwealth Coast semifinals to New England ended any
postseason hopes.

Goodbye... Nick Zalesky. Moved from close defense
to LSM last year, Zalesky was dangerous on both ends of the field.
Not only was he key cog in the Golden Bear defense and face-off
(team-high 104 ground balls) units, but he also finished ninth on
the team in scoring with four goals and 11 assists. "I felt like if
we had done more in our league tournament, Nick would have had some
great accolades at the end of the year," said Klepacki. Both
Zalesky and Tim Santye – the only two graduation losses off
last year's team – played in the North-South All-Star
game.

Hello... Sean Lawton. The Golden Bears brought in
a 20-man rookie class, and Lawton appears to be the best of the
bunch. A midfielder out of Abington (Mass.) High School, Lawton is
expected to considerably help an offense that was impotent at
times. Also keep an eye on Jack Liacos out of Beverly (Mass.) High
School, who should go a long way in replacing Zalesky at LSM.

Offseason Developments: Joe O'Keefe has had a
snake-bitten career with WNEC since he won conference rookie of the
year honors in 2008. After missing the entire 2009 season after
surgery, O'Keefe was on pace for a monster junior campaign –
he had 17 goals and 11 assists after eight games – but broke
his foot midway through the year, shelving him again. Even though
he played in just those eight games (out of 18), he finished fourth
in scoring. "He's leaner and ready to make more of an impact on
attack like he did when he was a rookie," said Klepacki.

Big Question: Can goalie Brewster Knowlton return
to form? Knowlton was the darling of Division III goalies after his
freshman season in '09, coming within a goal of upending eventual
national champion Cortland in the national quarterfinals and
holding the mighty Red Dragons to just six markers. Last year,
however, was more of a struggle. Knowlton's 6.00 goals against
average and 65.5 save percentage of his first year were eclipsed by
a 8.37 GAA and 54.9 sv%. Granted, the Golden Bears acted like a
very different team last spring, but his coach feels Knowlton's
primed to return to his frosh form. "He's ready to get back to
where he was as a freshman, just being a stopper," said Klepacki.
"The pressure he put on himself was a little too great at times. I
think he is enjoying things more now. He's doing a great job of
leading the team."

Fall Schedule: The Golden Bears traveled to
Thayer Academy in Braintree, Mass., for the Catamount Classic on
Oct. 10, where WNEC squared off with NCAA Division I foes Holy
Cross, Sacred Heart and Providence. "I think the young guys that we
have really handled the pressure and did a nice job," said Klepacki
of the event.

WNEC also hosted an alumni game in late September. After getting
banged around by the grads last year, the current Bears dominated
the action this fall. "Our guys handled the pressure and showed the
difference between being a college athlete and being an alum," said
Klepacki.